Press Conference Transcript: Dario Franchitti to Join Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Drive No. 40 Dodge
Press Conference Transcript: Dario Franchitti to Join Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Drive No. 40 Dodge John Olguin (MODERATOR): "Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you all here and thank you for coming. My name is John Olguin and I am Vice President of Communications for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. I have the distinct pleasure to announce we signed 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series Champion Dario Franchitti to a multi-year deal to drive the No. 40 Dodge Avenger beginning in 2008. Let me read a few stats for you: * Franchitti will become the first European driver in the 59-year history of NASCAR to join the series full-time * He becomes just the second reining open-wheel champion to make his way to NASCAR following Tony Stewart who did the same thing in 1997 * Franchitti has 180 starts under his belt between CART and IndyCar Series resulting in 18 wins, 17 poles, 63 top-fives and 95 top-10s What we will do first is hear from Chip Ganassi and then from Dario, but first let me introduce a couple of other people. Driver of the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Juan Pablo Montoya is here and driver of the No. 41 Target Dodge Reed Sorenson. We also have Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates President Steve Lauletta, Team General Managers John Fernandez and Tony Glover. I will now turn it over to Chip. CHIP GANASSI (TEAM OWNER): Thanks, everybody. Good morning. I guess I am announcing probably one of the worst kept secrets in NASCAR over the last month or so, but it is quite an honor. I am really happy to be sitting here this morning. I am really happy that we finally concluded the contract negations to free Dario to be here this morning. I know he is looking forward to getting in the car. He and I have been talking about this for a long, long time. I can probably tell that story now if you don't mind me telling the story [looks over to Dario], you know the one I am thinking about? You know last year, he and I had some extensive talks about NASCAR. And I said you know I would like for you to drive for us and he said ok I would like to drive for you. Let's do something. And I had the unenviable position of calling him up a few days later, he was going back to Scotland or something and I had to call him up and tell him you know what, there is one guy on the planet that could've called and knocked you out of your seat. He and I had a conversation and I gotta tell you that seat is not available anymore. And it was the guy standing in the back there who is driving the No. 42 car now. I said, hey, you know this is a great place and I would like you to keep thinking about it. You never know what will happen. Things like that happen for a reason and that was all I could think about the day of the Indianapolis 500 when he won the Indianapolis 500. I thought you know things happen for a reason and so he didn't come to NASCAR last year. He stayed in the IRL and won the 500, won the championship though (inaudible) be it we were short of fuel I think on our team. I was a winner either way that day. Anyway, I am pretty excited to have him here. I am pretty excited to have him on our team. I'm really excited I should say. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen Dario Franchitti. DARIO FRANCHITTI: Morning. Thanks for coming out, everybody. This is an absolute honor to be here today announcing that we're going to be driving for Chip and the team here. I have had 11 great years in open-wheel racing. The time came for a new challenge and this is it. It is going to be a heck of a challenge to learn everything. You know, just sitting here with the experience of zero and I am going to be relying a lot on my new teammates. I have already been quizzing Juan this morning about all of these different things. When I get in the car in Talladega this weekend with the ARCA car it is going to be a big step. I am here to learn first of all. As I said, it is going to be difficult but an exciting challenge and that is what I have been looking for. Thank you, Chip, for having the faith to do this and I look forward to seeing you all around throughout the season and getting to know you all. Thank you. OLGUIN (MODERATOR): Questions? QUESTION: Dario, after you won Indy and what the season was like in July in Indy cars, you were complaining about not having enough time off at home. Do you have any idea that this thing is pretty much a 12-month a year job? FRANCHITTI: I was promised 11 months [Dario smiles] [room fills with laughter]. I realize the schedule is going to be busy and I am told to prepare for that. I spoke to Juan when Chip and I started talking. He [Chip] said call Juan find out what he thinks. So, Juan did the big sale show. He said it is so much fun. You know the schedule, there are a lot of races but it is so much fun. You are going to love it. You should really do it. But then, in hindsight, I am not sure because he then told me about how everybody was really friendly. You know, Kevin Harvick and I we've gotten to be really good friends. Then, they went to Watkins Glen that week so I don't know . I know it is going to be busy. I'm here. I am here for the long term. I am here to learn first of all and to do the job that I am here to do. QUESITON (Claire B. Lang, XM Satellite Radio): A question for Chip and for you, Dario, how will you prepare and what will you immediately start to do? What will you throw into the preparation? Chip, does this merge the worlds you love to have Juan Pablo and him driving for you now in NEXTEL? GANASSI: Thanks, Claire. You know, obviously my relationship goes way back with Dario as well as Juan. In 1999, Juan and Dario tied for the points and then we won on the tie break. So, it goes back that far and probably further. Again, it is just racing. People always want to talk about how I am raiding the open-wheel series. That is a bit of slight to NASCAR. First of all, a lot of you have heard me say it. I don't care where the drivers come from. When good drivers are available, I think you have to look at them and take them. You have to take the best guys available out there. If a good guy becomes available, you are doing your team an injustice if you don't take a look at it. Number one. Number two, I am not rating Indy Car racing or the IRL. Nobody is a bigger supporter of open-wheel racing and Indy Car Racing than me. That series continues to grow. Like I said I don't care where the drivers come from. If they are good drivers and they are available, I want to talk to them. QUESTION: And how are you preparing? FRANCHITTI: I am just going to ask a lot of questions first of all. As I said, the first time I sat in a stock car was yesterday. I got in the thing and had a seat fitted. GANASSI: That is not to say he hasn't driven what some of you might not be familiar with are saloon cars so he does have some experience. FRANCHITTI: I did a couple years over in Germany with the DTS so I have driven with a roof over my head before. Like I said, I am going to be asking questions. I am going to be around just asking Reed, and Juan, and all of the crew chiefs, and all of the guys in the shop, and Chip. These guys have been through this before with Juan so I think that is really a big help to me because they went through those growing pains last year and just that transition. That is another big reason I came to the team because I knew this has all been done before. QUESTION (Bob Pockrass, NASCAR Scene): Did any of your wild rides from this past Indy Car season lead you to this decision? FRANCHITTI: I would be lying if I said no. It was definitely a small part of the decision. There was a lot more to it than that. Like I said, I have been really intrigued by the challenge of NASCAR for quite a while. That was the main reason. Winning the Indy 500 and the championship made that decision even easier because I had achieved what I wanted to achieve. It was time to move on and time to jump into this world for me. QUESTION (Doug Rice, Performance Racing Network): Dario, have you and Chip laid out any milestones for success in the 2008 season. Some things you would like to achieve, a checklist of sorts? FRANCHITTI: No, right now we are just taking it week by week. This program that Chip has to sort of introduce me to stock car racing with ARCA and Busch. You know, we really haven't talked that much about 2008, yet. QUESTION (Tim Jenson, speedtv.com): What does this do for you sponsorship wise now that you have the most global driver line-up or international driver line-up of anyone, what does your sponsorship line-up look like for next year, in terms of marketing for you company, what opportunities does this open for you? GANASSI: It certainly opens up; I think it opens up some opportunities not only for us, but for the entire sport. I mean if you look at, not only, in sports today, in any major corporation, at the top levels of it, it's international, whether it's the management, the product, or the company itself. The word multi-national company is in everyone's language today. In sports, sports are international, whether it's the NFL, or baseball, or hockey, or some of the things NASCAR gets compared to from time to time. I think it opens up some opportunities. There is certainly some interest from companies that have a global audience in our team and that are a great thing. That's for other people to talk about in the marketing department. I'm in charge of the drivers. QUESTION (Jim Utter, Charlotte Observer): Dario, how did the outcome of the final race of the season play as a role in making your final decision, had your mind already been made up or did it depend on if you ultimately won the championship? DARIO: My mind was already made up before that. That was just the icing on the cake from a terrific season and it felt really, really good to get that victory and that championship. To win that together for the days that you drove for such a long time. GANASSI: I thought it said a lot about his year he had there in 2007. When it comes down to the last race, the last lap, the last corner basically the two guys that are fighting it out for the championship are nose to tail or side by side its pretty exciting stuff. QUESTION (Jeff, NASCAR Scene): Dario, you are used to racing with friends and people that know you and know what you do on the track, how you anticipate the change with racing on the track with strangers and people that aren't familiar with your style. DARIO: That's all part of the learning process. Certainly for me, and for the other drivers to learn what I'm like and they've got to build up that trust with me. I've got to learn. I've been doing open wheel so long with a lot of the same guys you know exactly how one driver is going to react as opposed to another. It's all part of the learning process. I look forward to driving against a lot of these great drivers. QUESTION (Tim, MRN Radio): What was your attraction, was it the people, the sport, the racing, the basic fans, what was it that made you turn to NASCAR racing? DARIO: It was the racing. I keep talking about this new challenge. I've been doing open wheel racing for so long that it was time to try something else. NASCAR intrigued me with the competitiveness of the series and all the things that go into it and as I said, the sales job that Mr. Montoya did. I love that competition of it and learning something completely different, something that I really at this point got no clue about. I'm gone from being in position, along with like Tony, to being kind of a team leader, to just being a rookie, it's going to be interesting. QUESTION (Bruce Martin, Sports Ticker): The timing, the perfect opportunity, few guys have been able to win the Indy 500 and IndyCar title in their final season. Talk about having completed both of those, the sense of peace that you have with your career. DARIO: Yeah. We have won a lot of races in open wheel and it was always nice. Sitting her with Chip, we have competed really hard against each other from my first day. I seem to have spent a lot of time with a Target car in front or behind me so it's kind of funny that we are sitting here today, but we have won all those races, the 500 and the championship. To get both of those was a nice, a really good feeling. I remember when Gil de Ferran won his last IndyCar race and he retired after that and I always thought that that was really great. The fact that I was able to do that was really nice. QUESTION (Marty Smith, ESPN): When will we see Dario in a cup series race and how many do you plan to run before the end of this year? GANASSI: We are going to run him in the cup race at Talladega this weekend. What do you think about that idea? As you know from last year, I would like to give you the lay out of the plan, but I will tell you also that that plan is week to week. We are going to be doing something each and every weekend that's available from now until the end of the season. Whether it's ARCA, Busch, and if everything goes well in ARCA its Busch, everything goes well in Busch its Cup. It's a week to week step. It's the same conversation we had a year ago, we have solid steps we want to make. He has to satisfy the people in this building, we want to make sure he satisfies the people in the building down the street. There's no hurry to next February. We want to get every possible type of circuit, every type of possible track, every situation we want him to experience it, so there's no surprises in 2008. QUESTION: Chip, has NASCAR told you specifically what he has to do, what Dario has to do, to be approved? GANASSI: We are in close contact with NASCAR. In lock step with what we are doing and how we are going about it. They are on board with what we are doing. QUESTION (Clair B Lang, XM Satellite Radio): Dario, how hard do you think that this is going to be realistically aside from what Juan Pablo Montoya has told you? How do you plan to make friends in the garage? Immediately go to the track, call up Kevin Harvick? How tough and then how do you make the friends? DARIO: It's going to be tough. I'm under no illusions here. This is probably going to be the toughest challenge in my career and it's partly the reason I did. It's going to be a very steep learning curve. I hope I'm up for the job. As far as making friends, I'm going to see the guys and talk to them. I know some of them guys a little bit. I'm looking forward to meeting these guys I watch so much on TV and have such a respect for. I'm looking forward to that and getting out there and racing with them as well. We (Ashley and I) Ashley turned to me and said now that you are doing this next year do we have to watch it on TV quite so much next year. QUESTION (Bob Pockrass, NASCAR Scene): Bob: Dario, can you just talk about being the Indy 500 winner and not defending the title or are you going to try and lobby Tony George for an earlier start time next year so maybe you can do both that and the cup race that day? DARIO: Never say never, but right now, with the timing and stuff it's impossible to do that. Quite honestly I think I'm going to have my hands full here, adapting here, and doing the job. We're up for next year and being competitive in cup. As I said I think I am going to have my hands full. QUESTION: Is their any emotion knowing that you are not going to be defending that title? DARIO: Yeah, there is a bit. That was one of the, when you kind of weighed out the pros and cons of making this move, of not being able to defend the 500 win, was tough, because it meant so much to me to win that race. That was one of the hardest parts of making this decision, but there is a lot of positives too for sure. QUESTION (Bruce Martin, Sports Ticker): If I had come up to you last year and said you are going to be competing in 2007 in a race with Jacques Villenueve and Scott Speed you would probably think, oh well they are coming back to run the Indy500, you probably never thought it would be an ARCA race at Talladega. Just what are your thoughts competing with those two guys in an ARCA race at Talladega? DARIO: I know what you are saying Bruce. Who would have thought that Scott Speed and JV would be over there too? It's just amazing the way things have turned out and the direction that NASCAR has taken with drivers coming from throughout the world. It's going to be interesting to see how those guys do. I'm really interested to see Jacques. In the cup race this weekend to see how he gets on. QUESTION (David Newton, ESPN.com): Were you disappointed last year when you got the phone call to say that Juan was going to be in that car and also do you feel like when guys like you are leaving the IRL it's hurting that sport? DARIO: As far as leaving the IRL. I think the series is much bigger than any one driver and there's lots of young guys coming up to take my place and they still have a lot of great drivers, so I don't think it will hurt it. As far as was I disappointed, yeah I was, I was disappointed by that. I'm really really glad by the way things turned out this year. I would have hate, looking back now with hindsight, I would have hated to have left open wheel racing and AGR at the end of '06 because it was a disastrous year for us. So I am much happier to leave with the record we have in '07. Kelby Krauss Media Relations Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates 8500 Westmoreland Drive Concord, NC 28027 Office: (704) 662-9642 ext 1147 Cell: (317) 945-3019 Fax: (704) 663-0848 kkrauss@ganassi.com www.chipganassiracing.com <http://www.chipganassiracing.com>